Familiar Faces: Regression
by Queen of the Random Word
Summary: This is a coninuation of Darico's fan fic. Ichigo was a respected captain until he vanished two years ago. Now he has reappeared as a child with no memory, and dark forces seem to want something from him. Will the Soul Society find out they want in time?
1. prologue

An: This is a continuation of the fan fic "Familiar Faces" by Darico, if you want to read this fan fic, you might want to read Darico's fic in order to understand this one. For those of you who have read Familiar Faces, this prologue takes place during the fire that apparently ended Ichigo's life on earth and began his mysterious disappearance. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or the orginal fan fic "Familiar Faces". Those are owned by Tite Kubo and Darico respecitively. This was written for entertainment only.

Familiar Faces: Regression

Prologue

Kurosaki Ichigo traveled in the space between life and the afterlife. He was a man of twenty six, dressed in black robes with billowing pant legs. His bright orange hair was trimmed in drooping spikes that emphasized his angular face and sharp battle honed eyes.

He had long since mastered the double life of a Shinigami for eleven years, ever since he was fifteen and received the powers of an injured Shinigami who was trying to save his family.

As Ichigo kept running in the path between life and death he felt something tumble out of a pocket of his kimono top. It was his cell phone, but his fingers were quick and deft enough to catch it in midair.

On the cell phone was a custom made charm carefully crafted by Ichigo's sister Yuzu, a small version of Ichigo she had carved out of sculpting clay once after she had a dream of him in a black kimono fighting monsters in a black and white world. Ichigo had to laugh off the idea, and ignored his other sister Karin's accusatory glance when he reassured Yuzu that what she had was just a dream. Later that week Yuzu made the charm "for luck."

He was going to miss living a human life; the day to day job as a police officer, regularly seeing Chad, Inoue, Ishida, Tatsuki, Mizhiro, and even Keigo; from his rambunctious father, to his independent-football-star-sister Karin, or his nurturing-premed-student-sister Yuzu.

Now at twenty-six, his human life ended in a strange murder case that wound up claiming his human body in the end.

From what Ichigo had gathered not only from the police report but from what his subordinates had unearthed as well, this was a collection of suspicious deaths that reeked of hollow

He managed to track down the malicious lost soul, called a hollow, or what he had assumed was once one, but something appeared to attract and tamper with it before the creature attacked.

Odd bruises besides the obvious giant bite marks were on all of the bodies, many of which were in the same area. Ichigo was the one to narrow down the exact location of the mutated hollow to this building, and uncovered its secret.

The hollow was hiding in the building, along with files and records as to what happened to it. Someone had done extensive research on something big, and Ichigo knew that it had to be reported before the Soul Society, before anyone acted. He wasn't as reckless as he used to be when he was a teenager, ordering a rag tag team of other teenagers in to dangerous places like the Seireitei, or Hueco Mundo. He would probably need the support of his co-captain and the rest of the ninth division.

Ichigo had found the mutated hollow in an old warehouse where he found the information and then due to some unknown call the hollow could hear, like a dog responding to a silent whistle, it took off to a nearby hospital. Ichigo was on duty as a police officer then, and was unable to switch places with a well trained Kon, as the mod soul had earned the day off.

The police would later claim the fire was a fault in the hospital's wiring, but Ichigo knew that the hollow caused it after killing one last victim, a young man about twenty five.

Now he was off to report what he found, as well as prepare to take on a permanent role as co-captain of the ninth division. He was sure his co-captain would be surprised to find that they could probably re-evolve their professional relationship back to normal captain/vice captain relations, seeing as neither man wanted the job as captain. Ichigo hated being judged because of his rank.

It was then Ichigo realized that he wasn't alone. Something was behind him and quickly approaching.

A figure dressed in a dark grey color appeared to his right and Ichigo pulled Zangetsu, his large cleaver shaped sword and caught the woman's attack with what appeared to look like a katana.

The figure leapt back after the element of surprised was gone and the katana shifted shape in to a dagger.

Ichigo found this weapon change as odd, and some what worrying, for it meant there was an unpredictable element in his opponent. Her reach would appear to be unlimited, or it could be an illusion to lure the opponent in range. He'd have to be careful.

"You have some information I want Mr. Shinigami." The woman's voice was firm and cold.

"And you want me to give it to you? Why?" Ichigo asked.

"It's my beloved's research."

Some how this froze Ichigo's insides faster than liquid Nitrogen. So that was what the research was about. From what Ichigo remembered the end results of the research did not have pretty results, and the hollow was a result of that 'research.' His eyes hardened.

The woman saw this and grimly she raised her weapon. It changed in to a large broadsword and she charged. Her spiritual pressure began leaking out of her every movement, as if it would possess and capture him.

This must be her ability.

Ichigo used his own pressure to press the energy back and managed to catch her blow with Zangetsu before he pushed her off and swung his sword in response. He managed to give the woman a shallow scratch on the leg, but it wasn't enough to affect her, seeing as it only grazed the skin.

She swung again.

He countered and tried to use more of his energy in to repelling her attacks, and keeping her energy at bay. Slowly it was growing to be too much.

She swung and Ichigo blocked. However this was not really the place to hold a battle. His reiatsu control might have improved marginally than when he was younger, but this area was better suited for traveling, not fighting. He was running out of time.

'You _need_ me king!' The hollow growled inside Ichigo's mind. But Ichigo just simply shoved him down.

'No, I _don't_' Ichigo denied.

The Hollow rebelled and he had to use more mental force than usual to get results. Unfortunately this force also prevented him from reacting in time as the woman saw an opening.

'Ichigo, focus!' Zangetsu exclaimed but it was too late. The woman leapt up and hit Ichigo over the head with her blade. Ichigo felt his hollow take over and the mask formed in time to prevent most of the damage. But Ichigo felt winded, extremely dizzy, and in a lot of pain. Something was very wrong.

He felt the Hollow take over completely and as if he was in the process of detaching himself from his body, he felt the hollow cut in to the woman's side.

She stopped the blade with her own before it did to much damage and she fled. She might have just killed her last source of information.

Ichigo stumbled, it felt as if he was shrinking. His shoulders were getting narrower, and he was getting shorter. He tried to call for help, but his voice squeaked. He forced himself to move forward, and somehow made it in to one of the outer districts of Rukongai and before he could marvel at getting so far on his own he fainted.

His body kept morphing and shaping until a dizzy six year old child sat up.

Confused and tired, but not wanting to be out in the open, the child Ichigo got up and wearing only his under shirt, walked slowly away dragging a suddenly smaller sword with him. All that was left behind in the dust was, the rest of his clothing and personal items like his cell phone.

Later he would fall asleep, hidden in a bush, he would recover from his wounds with healing that was faster the what should occur for a normal child. He would have no recollection as to what had happened to him before he woke up.

The sword he took with him would soon vanish and reappear in his mind as an old man. And a second voice would talk to him, and Ichigo would grow to call this voice "the other me."

All that was left of this ordeal, would be a scar on the top of his head, hidden by his messy hair, the only real clue that it existed was when the hair would be properly groomed, and a tiny scar peeking out of his hair line.


	2. Prolouge part two

An: This is pretty much a continuation as to what happened in chapter one, after this chapter it'll skip to the part where the original fic left off. I hope you guys don't mind the Eyeshield 21 reference in the beginning of this chapter, to avoid confusion with anyone who's familiar with the series, I called the sport soccer instead of football.

As to a note about my life, I'm going to college in another town and have moved out on my own. I've also joined National Novel Writing Month, which means I have to try to write 50,000 words in one month. Thanks to this fan fic, my word count has reached almost nine thousand words.... most of which is fan fiction.... *sweatdrop*

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or Eyeshield 21, I'm just a sad fan with too much time on my hands….ish.

Familiar Faces: Regression

Prolouge part two

Kurosaki Karin was a professional Soccer player. She had faced many challenges was able to play as team captain and one of the best goal keepers around. She was proud of how well her teammates worked together with her help, and how they were willing to work with her.

Today they were playing against one of their rivals, the Devil Bats, in the districts game that would promise who would go to finals. Currently it was half time.

Karin nibbled on a lemon slice, carefully trying not to get sticky with the honey water that covered the piece of citrus.

"Karin-senpai!" one of the newer soccer recruits called. "There's someone to see you!"

Curious, Karin got up and with a nod from the coach, went to see this visitor. She was startled and surprised to find that it was Kuchiki Rukia.

Karin glanced around to make sure she didn't have any eavesdroppers before she looked at the Shinigami carefully. She was disguised in team colors matching Karin's dark blue jersey with the Kakura specters logo on the front; a powerful looking ghost with a soccer ball.

"Well well, it's a rare treat to see a captain from the Soul Society here to see me play soccer." Karin announced. She had long since told Rukia of her ability to see Shinigami and hollows and was kept slightly in touch with the going on in the supernatural world.

"Karin-chan." Rukia greeted solumly.

That was then Karin realized something was wrong.

"How's Ichi-nii doing? I haven't heard from him since his call last week." Karin asked.

"He's gone Karin." Rukia began.

"What do you mean gone?" Karin asked.

"There was a fire at a hospital yesterday, and your brother played the hero. His body was destroyed in the inferno. We sent him to the Soul Society so he could be a full time Shinigami, but during the journey he disappeared." Rukia explained slowly and softly, as if she couldn't believe what she was telling, and something she had been told herself. "I thought your family would appreciate hearing this new from me…"

"What?" Karin's voice demanded.

"We can't find his spirit, and we've had extensive search parties all over the Soul society, or even the hollow world Hueco Mundo. No luck. We did find some of his clothing, but it's all bloody and torn." Rukia looked down. Ichigo was her friend, and she, despite being warned not to, volunteered to break the news to Ichigo's family.

Karin swung her fist and punched the wall next to her, her bangs covered her eyes from Rukia's vision. "Thanks for telling me Rukia-chan. Enjoy the rest of the game, because afterwards, we're headed home to tell old goat face."

"That's not a nice thing to call your father." Rukia observed but Karin had already turned around and left. "Are you sure you should be playing the rest of the game?"

"Of course." Karin replied. The game was brutal, even if Karin was emotionally shaken, she did some form of grieving on the field, every time she kicked the soccer ball, she imagined her brother's face on it, and used that to kick a swift goal, or to reach a far away teammate on the opposite side of the field. Not even opponents dared to approach her and after the game, even if her expression was stoney and still, tears began flowing down her face as Rukia informed the coach of the death in Karin's family, and the request for her to head home. Both women had permission to head back to Kakura town early.

Karin cried herself to sleep on the train home.

Stupid Ichi-nii.

* * *

Kurosaki Yuzu was having a very nice day. She had gotten an A on a test she was worried she didn't pass, and she finished a term paper early. She was in the middle of her lunch break when a familiar face approached her.

"Matsumoto-san!" Yuzu greeted, and the normally bubbly woman looked at her softly before she took a seat at the table Yuzu was eating at.

Yuzu got to meet Matsumoto when she was ten, and learned about Shinigami when she was thriteen back before Ichi-nii went off to the police academy, when she over heard Karin corner him and managed to get a confession out of Ichigo about the Soul Society, which wasn't an easy feat for the dark haired sister. It took Karin three years to get Ichigo to admit that she could see the shinigami too.

Today Matsumoto was dressed in a tight black dress, and black legging. Even her enormous bosom which would normally be displaying cleavage was appropriately concealed. The woman looked very sad, Yuzu noted.

"What's wrong Matsumoto-san?" Yuzu asked.

"I've got some bad news Yuzu-chan." The woman said.

"Oh?" Yuzu asked, putting her chopsticks down on top of her home made bento box.

"The Soul Society regrets to inform you of the passing of your elder brother." Matusmoto said softly in the formal speech only reserved for civilian family members of a deceased shinigami.

"But doesn't that mean he'll continue working for you?" Yuzu felt tears welling in her eyes. She had trouble seeing ghosts, but she could trust to have her beloved big brother looking after her right?  
"No. He disappeared, soul and all. His human body was destroyed in a fire, and we found evidence that he might have been killed when he tried to enter the soul society."

"No…"

"I'm very sorry Yuzu-chan. Come here, I can tell you need a hug." Matsumoto opened her arms solemnly.

Yuzu began to shake and she slowly got up and was enveloped in Matsumoto's warm arms, arms that shouldn't be hugging her with such grievous news.

"He can't be gone, he can't'." She whispered in to Matsumoto's top. "Who would have done such a thing?"

"We don't know. But I promise you we'll find the answer." Matsumoto reassured her as she started to rock the girl, ignoring the stares the girls were getting.

Yuzu wasn't well enough, and with a quick series of emails, was able to inform her instructors that she wouldn't be able to attend class for the next few days and requested to have class material sent to her to make sure she didn't fall behind in her studies. Then Matsumoto escorted Yuzu back to the Kurosaki clinic in time to meet Rukia and Karin arriving at the same time.

* * *

Kurosaki Isshin had already been informed of his son's passing by Ryuken the quicney doctor who wound up doing Ichigo's autopsy, and Urahara, who told him about his son's mysterious disappearance, as well as a shell shocked Kon in plushie form, who felt bad about insisting to take the day off that day.

Isshin didn't blame anyone, but spent hours crying and muttering about his foolish, brave, reckless, wonderful, stupid son. He had finished crying it out, but didn't have the heart to act goofy in attempt to cheer his children, at least not until after his son's funeral when he started to tell stories about Ichigo as a child.

By then Matsumoto had left to go to the soul society, and Rukia stayed behind, mostly because she was welcomed as the third daughter of the Kurosaki family. Even Kon attended, but he stayed quiet on the side lines as to not attract attention from Yuzu.

"I remember this one time" Isshin began the night after the funeral, sadly staring down at the kitchen table, still dressed in his funeral attire with his three daughters gathered around the table. "When Ichigo learned that he was going to be a big brother, he looked up at me and asked me if we had a bird cage."

Both Karin and Yuzu giggled, they had heard this story before.

"Why would Ichigo need a bird cage?" Rukia asked.

"We told Ichigo when he was little that babies were delivered to the mommy and daddy by a large stork." Isshin explained. "Any way, I told him that we didn't have a bird cage, and I asked him why." Isshin's eyes returned to memory.

"_Why do we need a bird cage Ichigo?" Isshin asked his five year old son. _

_The child moved the blanket on his bed further back away from the head board of the bed. "It's going to need a place to sleep when the baby comes." _

"_The baby's going to be born at the hospital Ichigo, the Stork's not going to spend the night here." Isshin explained._

"_But we're at a clinic, which means it'll be born here." Ichigo insisted. He was so proud that he knew what big words like "clinic" meant. "And after flying all the way from the North Pole, the Stork's going to be tired, so he can take a nap in my room."_

"_The North Pole? Why would the stork come from there?" Isshin asked._

"_Because Santa Clause comes from the North Pole, and if he's from there with toys and stuff during Christmas, why can't the stork come from such a place too?" Ichigo explained as he tugged and rolled his bed sheet to form a ring on the center of his bed. He then grabbed his pillow and placed it in to the ring, grabbing some of his toys to line the circle of blankets. "Okay, the Stork's nest is done!"_

"_So that's what you've been doing all morning?" Isshin laughed when it dawned on him what Ichigo's was doing. He laughed._

"_Can we show mommy?" Ichigo asked excitedly._

"_Show mommy what?" Kurosaki Masaki asked as she walked in to the bed room. "So this is where my two boys went."_

"_I made a nest for the Stork!" Ichigo proclaimed waving his hands over the bed. "He'll need a place to sleep when he's done flying from the North Pole!"_

"_That's really sweet of you Ichigo." Masaki bent down to kiss her first born on the top of his head. "But the Stork isn't going to need to use your bed."_

"_I'll sleep on the couch!" Ichigo volunteered. _

"_What I meant was the baby is already being made in mommy's tummy." Masaki explained._

"_But what about the stork!" Ichigo protested, confused._

"_The stork already delivered the baby when you were asleep." His mother explained while his father got ready for the next question, here it came, one of the scariest moments where Isshin didn't want his baby boy to grow up too fast. _

"_How did the baby get in to mommy's tummy though?" Ichigo asked._

"_Kidou! I-I mean magic, the stork is a very magical creature." Isshin barked, sure it wasn't the answer he had planned out, and while he felt bad about lying to Ichigo, he didn't want to tell him the truth, just yet anyway. _

"_Oh." To little Ichigo apparently, it made perfect sense. Masaki sent her husband an amused look._

"_Any way it's time for you to get ready for Karate." Masaki explained, pointing at the clock on Ichigo's bedroom wall.  
"Okay!" Ichigo exclaimed as he ran over to his dresser and with the help of his parents got ready for practice. "I'll show Tatsuki I've been practicing."Ichigo proclaimed, wanting to get better at karate than his friend at the dojo, even if the girl was way a head of him in the karate department. _

_When mother and son left to go to practice, Isshin laughed, took a picture of Ichigo's handy work, and sadly pulled the nest apart and re-made the bed, the nest for a human child to sleep in instead of a bird. _

"That's when I knew Ichigo was going to make a really good big brother." Isshin finished his story, walking over to a book shelf and pulling out an old photo album which was worn and old, and opened it to the page with the photo Isshin took and placed it on to the table.

The three girls, women actually, all leaned over the table and looked at the photo graph of baby blue bed spread, a few teddy bears and plastic toys, a shark fin poking out of one end, and a little green pillow in the center of the ring of blankets was Ichigo's nest.

He looked up at the old poster of Masaki, his beloved wife's image and remaining presence in the house and thought, 'I hope you're looking after our little nest builder Masaki.'

Mean while in a deserted area in the outer districts of Rukongai hidden in some low bushes, with a few bits of fabric and branches, in the shape of a nest, slept an eight year old boy who sneezed in his sleep.


End file.
